Daily Intel Brief
Belarus moves troops to the border of Ukraine, Colombian police kill a drug kingpin, and the new leader of ISIS was captured in Turkey...
Counterterrorism
A Calgary man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for terrorism offences, including kidnapping, committed during a year-long stint fighting as a trained sniper with ISIS in Syria. Last month, Hussein Sobhe Borhot, 36, pleaded guilty to participating in terrorist activities…
The new leader of ISIS has been captured in a police operation in Turkey after just 2 months in the job, according to local media. Abu al-Hassan al-Qurayshi was confirmed as the new "caliph" in a voice note put out by ISIS in early March, after his predecessor was killed in a…
Military & Defense
Self–proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has said the Armed Forces of Belarus are creating a new operational command – Yuzhnoye, while he started talking about a possible war on the territory of the country…
The Palestinian Authority's attorney general said on Thursday that its investigation proves an Israeli soldier shot Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the head in a targeted killing. The bullet that killed Abu Akleh is a 5.56 mm round with a steel component, which according…
Cybersecurity
Versus, a notorious English-language cybercrime darknet market, shut down after a hacker disclosed a high-severity Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploit last week. The vulnerability could’ve been used to access the market’s database and expose its servers’ IP addresses. The hacker…
A county in New Jersey is still dealing with the aftermath of a ransomware attack that began on Tuesday, highlighting the disruptions that cyberattacks can wreak on local governments. Officials in Somerset County — which has a population of about 350,000 and is just north…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
A Spanish war reporter who is accused of spying for Russia must stay for three more months in pre-trial detention without access to his family or a lawyer, a Polish court ruled this week. Pablo González, who has joint Spanish-Russian nationality, has been held in a Polish prison…
Lebanon’s intelligence chief said Thursday that he met with Biden administration officials this week to discuss ways he could help secure the release of six Americans who are being held prisoner or are missing in Syria, including Austin Tice, a freelance journalist who contributed…
Transnational Organized Crime
A gun supplier from Birmingham who used a 3D printer and ammunition press to make viable weapons from parts ordered on the dark web has been jailed for 27 months. Haroon Iqbal, 32, from Bramble Dell in Birmingham, made two orders for parts to be sent from the US…
A fugitive member of Colombia's Gulf Clan drug cartel wanted by the United States has been killed by police in the South American country, the government said Thursday. President Ivan Duque announced on Twitter that Juan Larinson Castro Estupinan, alias "Matamba"…